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Monday, November 25, 2013

Recipe: My Mom's Chili

Baby, it's cold outside! I'm sure everyone has heard about the freaky, cold weather that has taken over the Southern mid-section of the U.S. We had a steady, freezing drizzle all morning and the high only got to 35°. In central Arkansas in late November, this is extremely unusual. I remember quite a few 70 degree Thanksgivings! But I actually like this better because it puts me in a holiday frame of mind.

When the weather gets this cold, I always want to make chili. I've never been a fan of chili recipes that call for a crazy amount of ingredients. Or the ones that you have to cook all day long. My mother has been making this particular chili recipe since forEVER, and it's absolutely delicious. And absolutely easy. Four ingredients total, but the brand of the ingredients matters quite a bit.

Let's start with the most important. The seasoning. In my family, we swear by French's Chili-O. You know French's. They are the same people who bring us the deliciously evil little fried onions that go on top of green bean casserole. And that I used to eat straight from the container as a child. I digress. I've never had a problem finding this chili seasoning at Walmart or Kroger, but it may be a regional thing. I hope not.

Next we have the beans. I know a lot of people don't like beans in their chili, and I'm not the biggest fan of say, kidney beans, etc. Wendy's chili has way too many beans for my taste. But Bush's Chili Beans are great. And be sure to get the ones in mild sauce.

As far as the ground beef goes, use whatever you like that's lean. This is the first time I've made this recipe with the Whole Foods 95% lean ground beef. I know I've mentioned it before, but it is just so good. I'm starting to get a little bit panicky because I only have one pound left in my freezer. I'll have to make a pitstop next time I'm in Little Rock and stock up on some more.

The tomatoes don't really matter a whole lot, but get unseasoned ones. I don't like huge chunks of tomato in my chili, so I got the Hunt's petite diced.

Brown the ground beef and add the chili seasoning. Drain the tomatoes and add those in. And then the beans. That's it! Give it all a stir and let it simmer for around twenty minutes. Stir it around every now and then while it all comes together. It'll thicken up just a little.

And this is where I used to add copious amounts of shredded cheese and Fritos. And sliced avocado. And occasionally sour cream. And Jiffy corn muffins with butter. But I think tonight, I'll just have a reasonable portion with a Pillsbury Grands Corn biscuit. :)

This recipe makes six portions and that's how I calculated the nutritional info. One serving is 203 calories and 20g of protein.

This chili is deeeee-lish! Even my husband, a chili-snob, said it was good. It's going to be one of my go-to meals from now on! You should have seen me praying that Publix carried the Chili-O -- and they did! Love my Publix!!